The Cherohala Skyway Visitor Center at Tellico Plains, TN (225 Cherohala Skyway) — the western gateway, home of the Charles Hall Museum, and your last services before forty-three miles of mountain.
Welcome to the Cherohala Skyway — and welcome aboard. I'm Ranger Quinn, and I'll ride the whole crest with you, keeping you oriented and telling you what you're looking at. Riding along too is Ranger Boone Merrick, who's got a saddlebag of tales about this high country — a wagon train, a lost chief, and a mountain full of escaped wild boar, for a start.
You're at the Skyway's western gateway in Tellico Plains, at the visitor center. Now hear this, because it matters more here than on most roads: ahead of you lie forty-three miles of mountain with no gas, no food, and no services of any kind until you roll down into Robbinsville, North Carolina, on the far side. So if your tank is low, fill it now. Got it? Good.
From here the road climbs east and just keeps climbing — up over a mile high, across the crest of the Unicoi Mountains, through two national forests, with long sweeping curves and fifty-mile views. It's the grand, gentle cousin of the tight little Tail of the Dragon just north of here. Take your time, pull off at the overlooks, and let the mountain rise around you.
When you turn off the car, the tour pauses — just tap play on your phone to pick up where you left off. All right — Boone, say hello, and let's climb.
Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0
